Unit notes and practice questions
Everything here is for unit 5 of the Grade 12 English textbook: what the chapter covers, the short notes, practice questions with their answers, and the lesson video where one exists.
Start here
A short video lesson on this chapter, made by Temari. It loads only when you press play.
Reading the clues around a gap · 4 min · 2 past exam questions worked through
Tap a part to play the lesson from there.
The cards filed under this chapter on the Grade 12 English page. Open one at a time.
When you use it
Apply these steps when editing essays or paragraphs to make sentences concise, clear, and direct without losing meaning.
Watch out
Do not remove key information or necessary adjectives that change the original meaning while deleting unnecessary words.
Drafted from Grade 12 English, page 103 onwards, then checked twice before it went up
| Verbal Type | Form | Sentence Function | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gerund | Verb + ing | Noun (subject or object) | Taking photos is my passion. |
| Infinitive | To + base verb | Noun, adjective, or adverb | I love to watch football. |
| Present Participle | Verb + ing | Adjective modifying a noun | She gave me a welcoming cup of tea. |
| Past Participle | Verb + ed / V3 | Adjective modifying a noun | I found this broken plate. |
When you use it
Use this guide to distinguish between gerunds, infinitives, and participles when rewriting sentences or identifying parts of speech.
Watch out
Do not confuse a gerund with a present participle. Both end in -ing, but a gerund acts as a noun while a participle acts as an adjective.
Drafted from Grade 12 English, page 103 onwards, then checked twice before it went up
10 multiple-choice questions written against this chapter, each with its answer and the reason. Try one before you open the answer.
Question 1
According to the reading text on the benefits of mechanization, what percentage of the food in developing countries is produced by the smallholder farming sector?
Answer: C Up to 80%
Why
The text states that the smallholder farming sector produces up to 80% of the food in developing countries.
Question 2
Where were the first four modern poultry experiment stations established in Ethiopia in the early 1950s?
Answer: A Jimma, Alemaya, Debre Zeit, and Shashemene
Why
The text explicitly mentions that Jimma, Alemaya, Debre Zeit, and Shashemene were the first four experiment stations for poultry research in Ethiopia.
Question 3
In the sentence 'Taking photos of butterflies is my passion,' what grammatical function does the gerund phrase perform?
Answer: B Subject
Why
The gerund phrase 'Taking photos of butterflies' acts as the subject of the sentence because it comes before the main verb 'is'.
Question 4
According to the vocabulary section on poultry production, what are chickens called that are raised for meat for around 45 days before slaughter?
Answer: B Broilers
Why
In commercial poultry farming, broilers are raised for meat for around 45 days, while layers are reared for egg production.
Question 5
According to the text on agricultural mechanization, at which stage are operations such as chopping, milling, grinding, pressing, packaging, and transport applied?
Answer: C Processing and marketing stage
Why
The textbook notes that at the processing and marketing stage, mechanization is needed for chopping, milling, grinding, pressing, packaging, and transport.
Question 6
In what year was ELFORA, one of the top commercial poultry enterprises in Ethiopia, established?
Answer: B 1997
Why
The reading passage states: 'Established in 1997, ELFORA has large scale poultry farms at 4 different locations and sub-locations.'
Question 7
Choose the correct conjunction to complete the conditional sentence: 'He would not have failed his exams ______ he had been ill.'
Answer: A unless
Why
The word 'unless' means 'if not'. The sentence means he would not have failed his exams if he had not been ill.
Question 8
According to the writing section on editing wordiness, which sentence effectively eliminates unnecessary words from 'Jemal is extremely angry'?
Answer: B Jemal is furious.
Why
The textbook teaches that avoiding overused qualifiers like 'extremely' or 'very' by using a stronger single word (e.g., 'furious') reduces wordiness.
Question 9
Which Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is cited in the unit as providing a case for sustainable crop production escalation while protecting natural resources?
Answer: C SDG 12
Why
The reading text specifies that 'The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in goal number twelve (SDG12) provides a strong case for sustainable crop production escalation...'
Question 10
Based on the grammar reading passage about leap years, which of the following years is a leap year under the Gregorian calendar?
Answer: C 2400
Why
Under the Gregorian calendar, a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year unless it is also divisible by 400. Therefore, 2000 and 2400 are leap years, but 1900 and 2100 are not.
The app holds 24 questions on this unit, marked as you go. These are the first 10.
Unit 5 runs from page 103 to page 127 of the Ministry of Education edition.
Ministry of Education edition, English, 270 pages
Temari turns this chapter into timed practice and marks it as you go, with an AI tutor to explain anything that did not land.
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